The man next door had run out of fireworks by the time Germany scored their seventh goal. Berliners have a habit of setting one off every time their team scores at a World Cup, but there wasn’t a shop in the city well stocked enough to provide for the Game of the Century.

That is how the 7-1 victory over Brazil on Tuesday night is being referred to. 'Game of the Century' was a phrase previously reserved for West Germany’s semi-final defeat to Italy in 1970, which many consider to be the best football match ever.

The 21st century, though, needed a game of its own. On Tuesday night it got one.

Too good: Germany romped past Brazil with a stunning display to produce a shocking result

Leader: German manager Joachim Low was hailed as a national hero after his team's 7-1 victory

Germany were irresistible. Before this game, they had been criticised for having abandoned the joyful football they played at the last World Cup. Within one 18-minute period in the first half, they answered their critics, silenced them, and had them dancing on their sofas.

Joachim Low, a man who has been attacked from every angle during this tournament, is suddenly a national hero once more.

Toni Kroos was once bemoaned for his apparent laziness. Mesut Ozil likewise. But both are beyond criticism today, architects of a truly historic victory in Belo Horizonte. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung even referred to Kroos as ‘like Xavi and Iniesta as one’.

VIDEO Delight in Munich for Germany fans

Loud and proud: Germany fans at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte celebrate their team's victory

How many? One German fan at a public viewing in Berlin spells out the scoreline

Abroad: German fans in Palma de Mallorca watch their team annihilate Brazil

Lining up: Germany now expects to lift the World Cup at the Maracana on Sunday after this victory

But it was not the performances of
individual players for which this game will be remembered. It was the
blistering collective display. It was the evening in which a team, which
has disappointed so often in semi-finals, finally came into their own.

It was for the team that the German media reserved their praise. Bild’s headline simply said ‘Thank you’, and the paper went on to insist that ‘no other team has earned the World Cup title more than Germany in this tournament’.

The excitement ahead of the final is already at boiling point; the atmosphere in Germany has changed overnight. On Tuesday afternoon, there was cautious optimism that Germany might scrape their way to the finish line. On Wednesday morning, the nation expects nothing less.

Wir kommen ins Finale: The front page of Bild

Ramba Samba: The Hamburger Morgen Post

Danke: The Bergische Morgenpost says thank you

The players themselves weren’t getting
carried away. Thomas Muller mischievously reminded reporters after the
game that ‘after games like the beloved Algeria match, we get
criticised, now you praise us into heaven’.

Coach Low was also quick to nail some
feet to the ground, insisting that ‘a bit of humility is good for us
too. We don’t want to be overhyped’.

Not that the reaction is all based on clichéd German arrogance. Many newspapers were even apologetic to the hosts. Both the Tagesspiegel and the B.Z had the headline ‘Sorry’, with the latter describing Germany as ‘the worst guests in history’.

Largely, though, this is a day of celebration for German football. The Berliner Morgenpost has called it ‘The Miracle of Belo Horizonte’, and many fans are as stunned as they are delighted.

They hadn’t expected this from Low and his team. From the word go, almost the entire country had insisted that this team was chronically ill. Tactical, psychological and physical symptoms were identified at every opportunity. The national team was supposedly a sick man.

On Tuesday night, the patient got out of its bed, threw on its clothes, and ran a marathon.

It proved it was not sick at all, and it gave Germany one of the greatest nights of its footballing history. The country is in dreamland.